


the smell of coffee (reminds me of your love)

by scriptatur



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Bucky is a good boyfriend, Didn't Know They Were Dating, Fluff, Fuckbuddies, Getting Together, M/M, Misunderstandings, Not Actually Unrequited Love, Tony Stark Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-25
Updated: 2020-01-25
Packaged: 2021-02-27 04:40:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,539
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22401199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scriptatur/pseuds/scriptatur
Summary: Tony woke up alone. Which wasn't a surprise, because Bucky and him weren't dating. They weren't even sleeping together, not in the literal sense of the word. They were just... fuckbuddies. Or so Tony thinks.
Relationships: James "Bucky" Barnes/Tony Stark
Comments: 17
Kudos: 428
Collections: Tony Stark Bingo 2020





	the smell of coffee (reminds me of your love)

**Author's Note:**

> This is a fill for my Tony Stark Bingo card (3094), S4 - smell.

When Tony woke up, he was alone. That in itself wasn’t a surprise, he usually woke up alone. If he even went to bed, of course. He had gotten used to it, in the weeks and months after Pepper left. He had dealt with the breakup the way he dealt with everything: by spending a lot of time in his workshop and avoiding his bedroom as much as possible. But eventually, that didn’t work anymore. It wasn’t good enough; it didn’t fill the void the way it was supposed to. And then everything changed anyways.

DC happened. SHIELD fell. And then it didn’t take long for Rogers to find his way back to New York, followed by Romanoff. And where Romanoff was, Barton soon followed. It had been a tense couple of weeks in the beginning. Rogers had insisted on telling him about the Winter Soldier, about HYDRA, about what happened to his parents. Which was probably good, Tony didn’t even want to think about what would have happened if Rogers hadn’t told him. But still, it sucked for a while. Until it didn’t anymore. Until Rogers started to spend time in the workshop, bringing down food and coffee and chilling on the couch. He played with DUM-E, read a million books and filled even more notebooks with drawings. Most of them were the Winter Soldier, Tony knew. Or they used to be. But with time, the rest of the team started filling the pages. And Tony couldn’t spend all his time in the workshop anymore, because suddenly there were things like team dinners and movie nights. So, all in all, it wasn’t too bad. He got used to sleeping alone again, but he also got used to spending his days with the team, trading jokes with Barton, training with Romanoff, sharing lunch with Rogers. Building wings for the new guy, because if there was tech around, Tony had to find a way to improve it. Not that it was hard.

And then Barnes was found. Or rather, he let himself be found. And of course, it didn’t take more than on pleading look from Rogers, one “Tony please, he has nowhere to go,” and the Winter Soldier had his very own suit right next to Rogers. Not that Tony hadn’t planned on giving him a place to stay anyway. No matter who the guy killed, Tony had seen the files, he recognized torture and brainwashing when he saw it. So yeah, another new guy. And more tech to look at.

Tony hadn’t expected Barnes to be comfortable with him looking at the arm, but he didn’t seem to mind, as long as any work was done on the couch and not sitting on a chair. Which again, he had seen the files, it wasn’t really a surprise. The pillows and blankets that suddenly started showing up in the workshop had nothing to do with that, of course. There was no reason to get misty eyed, Rogers.

Tony definitely hadn’t expected to get along with Barnes as well as he did. But as soon as the arm stopped hurting him, as soon as he started to break free from the hold HYDRA had had on him, it became very clear that Tony and he were just meant to be. They had the same interest in tech, the same biting humor, the same love for sci-fi and trashy action movies. So, it wasn’t even that big of a surprise anymore when they started to spent time together. Mostly in the workshop, but they also went exploring the city at night, when neither of them could sleep. They told Rogers that they were on a quest to find the best diner in NYC, which earned them an eyeroll and a fond look. But Rogers did join them sometimes, still shivering from a nightmare and about as willing to talk about it as Tony and Barnes were.

The fact that they started sleeping together seemed more like an afterthought at that point. They weren’t dating, of course, but it kinda made sense. It was for comfort, mostly, which was something they both needed. And also, the sex was good. But it was just that: sex. So really, Tony wasn’t surprised to wake up alone. He had been surprised by the fact that Barnes had fallen asleep next to him, too tired to make his way back into his own bed. He didn’t mind. It didn’t matter anyway. It didn’t matter how waking up alone made Tony feel. They weren’t dating, they definitely weren’t boyfriends or anything, no matter how much time they spent together, how often they had sex. They didn’t sleep together, not in the literal sense of the word and they didn’t talk about feelings. Because there were none. At least not on Barnes’ side and it really was Tony’s own fault that he was so needy. So yeah, waking up alone wasn’t a surprise. It still sucked, though. 

Or at least it did until he registered the smell of coffee. Which didn’t make any sense, since he was alone in the apartment. Tony sat up and just before he managed to open his mouth and ask JARVIS what the hell was going on, the door was pushed open and the smell of coffee intensified.

“Oh hey, you’re awake,” Barnes said with a soft smile. He walked over to the bed, handed Tony the mug and pressed a kiss onto his forehead, then his lips. “Good morning. I hope you don’t mind that I let you sleep, you looked way too cute to wake up. I made breakfast though, if you’re hungry.” They smile was still on Barnes’ face, his hands soft and careful in Tony’s hair. Tony stared at the mug in his hands, so he didn’t have to look at Barnes. What was going on? Was this- was Barnes making fun of him?

“Breakfast’s keeping warm in the oven, so you can take your time drinking coffee and waking up, if you want,” Barnes said after a moment, when it became clear that Tony wasn’t going to say anything. More silence. “Tony? Are you okay?” he then asked, worry clear in his voice.

“Why are you still here?” Tony blurted out. He did realize that that was maybe not the best question, considering that Barnes had just brought him coffee and made breakfast. But he really hadn’t expected to see him, had been prepared to spend at least an hour moping in his bed, before making a pot of coffee and vanishing in his workshop for the foreseeable future. Breakfast in bed with his fuckbuddy had not been on the agenda. But then again, the hurt and confused look Barnes (Bucky?) gave him made Tony think that maybe he had been getting his facts all wrong.

“I- I didn’t realize that you didn’t want me here. Sorry, I can-“

“No!” Tony grabbed Bucky’s hand before he could get up. He got coffee everywhere but right now, he really did not care. “No, please don’t go. I- I’m sorry, I was just… surprised, I guess. I woke up alone and I thought that you-“

“You thought that I left,” Bucky finished the sentence and all Tony could do was nod and try to forget the hurt look in Bucky’s eyes.

“Sorry,” he mumbled, finally putting the coffee mug on the nightstand.

“Did I read this wrong?” Bucky asked after a moment. “I thought- I thought this would be okay, I mean we’ve been dating for a while now, but…” Oh god.

“No. No you didn’t, it’s-“ Tony made a face. “It’s me. I got it wrong.” Bucky frowned.

“What do you mean?”

“I- I didn’t realize we were dating, I guess.”

“Oh.” Bucky sounded small and defeated all of a sudden and Tony realized that he never wanted to hear that sound again. “Did you not want to-“ He broke off and all Tony could do was reach out, pull Bucky as close as he could and press soft kisses onto his skin. Bucky’s eyes were wet with unshed tears and Tony felt like the biggest asshole ever.

“I do! I do want to date you; I just didn’t realize that this was something that I could actually have.” Bucky frowned at him.

“What? But- we went on so many dates? And we’ve been sleeping together for weeks now? I mean, we kiss and cuddle in front of the team; and I’ve been threatened by all of them – including Steve – with incredible amounts of pain should I ever willingly hurt you. How could you not realize we were dating?” Bucky sounded outraged, but he was grinning again, returning all of Tony’s kisses. Tony laughed and covered his face in shame.

“I don’t know,” he said. “Insecurities?”

“Oh doll,” Bucky said, pulling Tony closer. “Okay. It’s okay, we’ll be working on that in the future. Communication is important and all that stuff.” Tony nodded.

“But later? Cuddles now?” he asked, and Bucky laughed.

“Cuddles now.”

Tony wrapped his arms around his boyfriend and pressed a kiss to his neck before closing his eyes for a moment. Okay so maybe this had been a surprise. But it was a good one. 


End file.
